Global Collapse

While Brother Mobile was still mulling over Gu Mian, Chu Changge opened his mouth slightly, "We do know Gu Mian..."

His tone was very heavy, and Gu Mian anticipated that something bad was about to come out of his mouth.

Sure enough, in the next second, Chu Changge began, "But due to some reasons, he was separated from us, and his fate is unknown."

Gu Mian pursed his lips slightly. This was the cruelest curse he had ever heard.

Brother Mobile asked with some doubt, "Really..."

Gu Mian was a man worth 10,000 Game Coins, 50 Attribute Points, and five designated special items; Game Coins and Attribute Points were still very rare.

If any player could get him killed, they would probably wake from their dreams laughing.

The fierce wind whistled, causing the dry branches to shudder slightly. Snow fell from above, landing on Gu Mian's 10,000-Game-Coin shoulders.

The cold wind desperately drilled into their clothes. Everyone shivered; it was simply too cold.

Mingliang, shivering, hugged his arms and said, "Let's not waste time talking nonsense here. We should find the villa on this mountain first. Otherwise, we might freeze to death before even reaching the main quest."

Fatty nodded seriously. "I agree, it's freaking cold here!"

The others had no objections and headed towards the mountain.

This mountain was quite rugged, not like those in scenic areas with cable cars and plank roads. There wasn't even a single step, so the group had to judge their upward direction based on the terrain's undulations.

Heavy snow covered the ground, and they risked slipping if they weren't careful.

Fatty, having somehow snapped off a sapling to use as a walking stick, grumbled, "This instance is really hard on people. How could it torment a two-hundred-jin fatty like me so much?"

Gu Mian glanced at him. "Wait until a ghost pops out; then you'll know this is nothing."

The weather was poor. The sky was gray, the sun was nowhere to be seen, and they couldn't tell the time within the instance.

Fortunately, even though they couldn't tell the time, the instance was thoughtful enough to provide the specific location of the villa.

After walking uphill for a short while, they saw a large sign.

The sign, with black lettering on a white background, was eerily reminiscent of a funeral banner.

Because heavy snow covered the entire mountain, from a distance, it looked as if two lines of black characters were floating in mid-air.

The group gathered around the sign.

"Fengxue Mountain?" Gu Mian stared at the large characters on the sign. The name was quite fitting for the situation.

He looked down and saw another line: "Fengxue Villa is eight hundred meters ahead."

He figured this must be the villa mentioned in the main quest.

Most people were familiar with a distance of eight hundred meters; many students had run it in two laps around the track during physical education in their school days.

Many people found it difficult to run eight hundred meters even on flat ground, let alone on this wind-swept mountain.

Covering these eight hundred meters was very challenging for them. Fortunately, the other players seemed to have enhanced their stamina or something similar. Although they complained, they never stopped moving.

Gu Mian couldn't add any Attribute Points, but he was a special case. Even if the others were to compete with him in an eight-hundred-meter sprint, none of them could likely outpace him.

Only Chu Changge had some difficulty keeping up. In the end, Fatty couldn't stand it anymore and nearly resorted to carrying him forward.

「About ten minutes later」

The group finally arrived in front of the villa.

It was a somewhat old building, though it did appear to be inhabited.

Gu Mian stood outside and looked up. The building was two stories high, very symmetrical on both sides, covered a large area, and had a retro style. Gu Mian seemed to remember seeing a mansion in this style in a spy movie.

There were no trees around the building, probably cleared when it was constructed.

Mingliang looked up at the large house. "I thought the villa mentioned in the quest would be much more dilapidated, but it doesn't look too bad. And aren't there still people living inside?"

Gu Mian averted his gaze. "I'm afraid so."

Brother Mobile hesitated. "The mission is to escape from Terror Manor. I wonder if just entering and leaving counts as escaping... And we still don't know who lives inside."

Mingliang didn't seem to care about these details. "Why worry so much? Even if we die here, it's not a real death. At most, we'll lose a few things. Let's just get in and get it over with."

This fellow seemed very daring, probably because his girlfriend was watching and he wanted to show off.

Brother Mobile watched Mingliang walk ahead. "If I may ask, how many instances have you cleared?"

Asked this, Mingliang showed a touch of pride. "I have a 100% clear rate for my instances. I've cleared two so far and never died. Otherwise, would I dare bring my girlfriend along?"

I'm afraid your girlfriend is going to get killed by you in this instance—that thought was written all over Brother Mobile's face, but he didn't say it out loud.

At this moment, Mingliang had stepped onto the front steps and was knocking on the villa's door.

There were indeed people living in this villa. Not long after, the group outside heard a PAT, PAT sound, as if someone in slippers was approaching.

Then, the main door creaked open a sliver, and a man's face appeared behind it.

It was the face of a young man in his mid-twenties. He was pale and looked weak, as if he hadn't had enough rest.

"Hello," Brother Mobile began cautiously.

The man behind the door didn't wait for Brother Mobile to say more, a look of sudden realization dawning on his face. "You must be mountain climbers, trapped here by the heavy snow?"

Gu Mian instinctively touched his chin. Judging by his tone, has he encountered many trapped climbers before?

Brother Mobile had apparently thought of this as well. "Did... did anyone get trapped here before?"

The young man behind the door seemed to be reminiscing, but then his expression turned vacant. "Yes, yes, it seems there was such a group not long ago... No, it seems it was a long time ago... Ah, sorry, I'm a bit confused about the time."

The people outside exchanged puzzled glances. There was obviously something wrong with this man.

The young man then opened the door wider. "You're trapped here as well, right? It will take some time to clear the road. There's no one else here but me. You can stay here for now."

Hearing this, Fatty's expression turned odd. In a very low voice, he said to Chu Changge beside him, "Hey, Brother Chu, I think there's something off about this guy. Who just casually lets strangers into their home?"

Chu Changge glanced at him. "The mission is to escape from the villa. Of course, they'd try every means to get you inside first."

Fatty nodded slightly. That makes sense.

Without hesitation, the group stepped through the main entrance.

But just as he entered, Gu Mian suddenly felt something was strange.

It wasn't that he saw anything unusual, just a sudden feeling of unease, as if something odd had just occurred that they hadn't noticed.

Others apparently felt the same. Brother Mobile looked doubtful and then approached Gu Mian. "Did you feel that something was off when we entered?"

Gu Mian nodded slightly. "I felt it."

The others also seemed uneasy. Gu Mian heard Mingliang saying to his girlfriend, Xiao Zhang, "Why do I suddenly feel so uncomfortable?"

Xiao Zhang also nodded. "Me too."

Gu Mian scanned his surroundings, trying to find the source of this strange feeling.

Although the villa was a bit old, the interior wasn't gloomy, just somewhat empty. Upon entering, there was a large hall with sofas, coffee tables, and similar furniture arranged in the middle.

He soon noticed something. The other furniture looked normal, but one item seemed distinctly out of place.